Mayor Raymond Bélanger didn’t mince words regarding Cassellholme’s fees – they are “crippling for Mattawa.” This year’s fee “is just over one million dollars,” the mayor said.
Cassellholme, a senior’s home located at 400 Olive Street in North Bay, is owned in part by the City of North Bay, and nine other municipalities – East Ferris, South Algonquin, Bonfield, Papineau Cameron, Chisholm, Calvin, Mattawan, and Mattawa.
Each municipality contributes to keeping Cassellholme running, as legislated by the province. The large addition to Cassellholme, a project estimated to cost around $121 million, has financially strained municipal partners, and Mattawa wants out.
At first, “The estimate was $60 million,” Councillor Garry Thibert reminded council, “and we had no problem agreeing” with that cost. “Now, it’s $121 million over a period of four years,” he emphasized. The issue of funding Cassellholme comes at a difficult time for Mattawa, which is also dealing with a 21 per cent increase in OPP services.
That Cassellholme project – still in the works – is an overhaul of the facility’s existing 240 beds, plus a 24-bed expansion.
See: ‘Ludicrous,’ Mattawa’s CAO says of OPP service increase
Councillor Thibert added he is eager for “an exit strategy” from the payments. “I’m responsible to my constituents,” he added, “and I don’t see this as a positive for my municipality.” No residents from Mattawa are Cassellholme residents, Mayor Bélanger confirmed, and Mattawa has the Algonquin Nursing Home with 72 beds for residents.
“It makes me frustrated and angry that I have to pay” for a service in North Bay, generally unused by Mattawa residents. “I want to know, where in the hell is the exit strategy? Are we going to be allowed to get out of this?” Thibert questioned.
“The exit strategy is being discussed at several different provincial tables,” explained Angie Punnett, an Administrator with Cassellholme. She, along with Dave Smits, Cassellholme’s Director of Capitol Projects and Facilities and William Brooks, Cassellholme’s Chief Financial Officer, stopped by Mattawa’s council on October 15 to provide an update on the facility.
See: No City of North Bay takeover as sole operator of Cassellholme
“It’s part of the Fixing Long-Term Care Act,” Punnett said of the contract, and the decisions regarding who continues to pay is in the hands of the province. A possible exit strategy “is still in progress” at the provincial level, and “it’s something the Cassellholme board cannot change.”
Mattawa is not the only municipality with concerns about continually funding the project. Others, such as Papineau Cameron, “have proposed an exit strategy,” as well, Punnett said.
However, it’s in the province’s hands.
See: 'Over budget' Cassellholme a 'nightmare for municipality' says Mayor
Mayor Bélanger reiterated that Mattawa wants out, and is worried the issue “has gone to sleep again.” He plans to wake it and reach out to the Minister of Long Term Care, Natalia Kusendova-Bashta, from the riding of Mississauga Centre.
“This is going to be crippling for Mattawa,” the mayor reiterated. “I don’t know where we’re going to find that money.”
Perhaps the worst of it, the mayor continued, “is that we have a nursing home in our community that we can’t help because we’re tied by a legislation that’s older than me and that makes no sense.”
“It’s hard to take,” the mayor continued, “and we’re going to fight it. We’re going to get louder.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
